Mail-pouch-receiving apparatus for railway-cars.



110.895,421. Y I PATBNTED AUG. 11,- 1908.

G. W. BROUGHTON.

Y MAIL POUCH-RECEIVING APPARATUS POR RAILWAY GARS.

APPLICATION FILED un.25,19oa.

CHAUNCEY W. BROUGHTON, OF CARLTW, ILLINOIS.

MAILroUeH-nnenrvnie APPAaATUs Foa RAILWAYCARS- 4 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

Application led March 25, 1908. Serial No. 423,109.

To all whom if 4may concern:

Be it lmown that I, CHAUNCEYW. BROUGH- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Carlton, in the county of Dekalb and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Pouch- Receiving i paratus for Railway-Cars, of which the folibwing is a full, clear, and exact speciiication.

This invention relates to devices for receiving a mail pouch on a car from a station while the car is in motion, and it is designed as an improvement upon an apparatus for this purpose shown and described in m United States Letters Patent No. 880,008, granted February 25, 1908.

In this apparatus the magnets 17 in my former patent which receive the pouch from the device at the station and hold it preparatory to conducting it into the car are magnetized at all times, excepting when the door 2 of the car is opened inwardly and the magnets are drawn into the car for depositing the pouch. This condition might be objectionable in some instances owing to the fact that the powerful magnets would be liable to be attracted by adjacent iron or steel structures, such as steel cars, bridges, ete., and thus prematurely move into their outstanding position.

The primary object of my present invention, therefore, is to demagnetize the receiving magnets while in their ruiming position, or in t. ie osition in which they stand when not in readiness to receive a mail pouch from the station and deliver the same into the ear.

lYith a view to the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other objects which will hereinafter appear, t-he invention consists of the features of novel-.ty which will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

1n the said drawings,-Figure 1 is a diagrammatic planview of an apparatus embodying my improvement, showing the same in the running position, with the circuit through the receiving magnets broken. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing such circuit closed with the magnets in position for holding a pouch reparatory to delivering it into the car. ig. 3 is a side elevation of the door.

As the present improvement is designed to be employed in connection with the' operating mechanism shown in my fermer patent, it is deemed only necessary to illustrate in the present drawings those portions of the invention which constitute the improvement, all other parts not herein fully described being the same in construction and operation as in the patent.

1 is the car wall and 2 the car door which is hinged therein on a vertical axis 3 and capab e of opening inwardly. In my present nnprovement, unlike my former invention, the door 2 is formed with a recess 4 on the Outside for receiving the magnets 5 when in their running position, so that they will be flush with the side of the car and. reduce the possibility of colliding with objects along the right of way. These magnets 5, as in my former invention, are mounted upon arms 6, 7, secured in a hub 8, which is also hinged on the vertical axis or hinge pintle 3, and as shown in 3, this hub 8 is supported by the door 2, so that the arms o, 7 will be capable of a limited independent motion on the ringe 3. The arms 6, 7 are also formed with a bend 9, which enables them to project the magnets 5 into the recess 4 of the door. lith this construction it will be seen that the hub 8 ma)T be turned suiiciently to cause the arms 6, 7 to stand outwardly at substantially right angles to the side of the car while the door is closed, so as to be in position for receiving the mail ouch from the a i aratus at the station, an the arms are pu ed into this position by a spring 10 and a cable 11, as described in my former patent, or they may be pulled from this position into the recess of the door, as shown in Fig. 1 by a cable 12 suitably connected therewith, and with one end of the cable 35, which is operated in the manner described in my former patent by automatic means within the car. Then the magnets 5 stand in running osition, thus inclosed by the recess of the t oor, their circuit is broken through one of their circuit wires 41 42 by a bolt 13 rovided with an insulated end 14 adapte to strike and open a switch 15 in the circuit wire 41, and to hold the switch open as hug as the magnets remain in then' running position. it is obvious, however, that shoud the bolt 13 have this etect when the magnete swing inwardly after receiving a. mail pouch, the magnets will drop the pouch outside the car, and in order to prevent this result from occurring, the bolt 13 is provided with means for causing it to project narnially in the path of one of the arms 6, 7, and thus arrest their. inward movement. For this purpose, the bolt .is provided with aspring 16, arranged to shoot the bolt into the recess 4 of the door, where it will be engaged by the elbow or bend 9 of one of the arms 6, 7 as shown in Fig. 2. The magnets .will remain in this position relative to t ie door while holding the inail pouch suspended until they, together with the door, are moved entirely into the car by the cable 12 and mechanism described in my former atent, as soon as the hand switch 75 in my former patent is closed, whereupon the circuit through the magnets 5 will be automatically broken as the insulations 46 come under the brushes 49, 50 which supply the magnets 5 with current from the live bars 43, 44 to which the cable 35 is attached. The mail pouch being released. the bolt 13 may be withdrawn manually by a handle or knob 17, and the door 2 thereby allowed to swing outwardly into line with the wall of the car and into close relation to the magnet-s 5, as shown in Fig. 1, where the insulated end 14 of the. bolt will hold the switch 15 open, as before described.

As described in my former patent, the magnet 57 is supposed to hold the magnets 5 in their running position, and in the present improvement the intention is that the magnet 57 shall hold the magnets 5 in their position shown in F ig. 1 entirely within the recess 4 of the door, but it is obvious that if the magnet 57 be so adjusted that its armature 5S will reach the limit of its stroke when the elbow 9 comes to rest against the bolt 13, the magnet 57 could not exert further ower upon the magnets 5 to pull them into t :e recess 4 when the bolt 13 is withdrawn. Consequently the cable 35 is provided with a spring 1S, which allows the armature 5S to continue to move after the elbow 9 is arrested by the bolt 13, and consequently when the bolt 13 is withdrawn, the power thus stored up 1n the spring 19, serves to pull the magnets 5 into their running position within the recess 4, as shown in F ig. 1. It is of course obvious that in order for the spring 1S to have this ctl'ect, it must be of greater tension than the spring 10, which serves to throw the arms 6, 7 into their outer position at right angles to the side of the car when the armature 5S is released by the magnet 57.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is* 1. In an apparat-us for the purpose described, the combination of means upon a railway car for supporting a mail pouch magnetically, said means being movable into a position outstanding from the car and also a position in close proximity to the car, and means for demagnetizing said magnetic means when in the latter said position.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose described, tlie combination of an electro-inagnet for supporting a mail pouch upon a car, said magnet being movable into an out standing position away from the car and to a position adjacent to the side of the car, a circuit for supplying said magnet with current, and means for breaking said circuit when the magnet is moved into the latter said posit-ion.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose described, the combination of an electro-inag- 1 net for supporting a mail pouch upon a car, said magnet being movable into an outstanding position away from the car and also into a position adjacent to the side of the car, a circuit for supplying said magnet with current, a switchfor breaking said circuit, means for pressing said switch open when the magnet is in a position close to the car, and means inte; posed in the line of inward movement of the magnet for preventing the said switch from being opened as the magnet moves inwardly from its outer position.

4. In an appara-tus for the purpose described, the combination of an electro-magnet for supporting a mail pouch upon a car, said magnet being movable into an outstanding position away from the car and also into a position adjacent to the car, a circuit for supplying said magnet with current embodying a switch, a bolt pressing normally toward said switch for opening it when the magnet is in its position adjacent to the. car, and means for releasing said bolt manually at will ,to allow said switch to close.

5. In an` apparatus for the purpose described, the combination of an electro-magnet for supporting a mail pouch upon a car, said magnet being movable into an outstanding position away ironi the car, and also into a position adjacent to the car, a circuit for supplying said magnet with current embodying a switch, a bolt standing normally in the line of movement of the magnet for arresting its inward movement, said bolt being also adapted to engage and open said switch when the magnet moves further inward, and means for pulling said magnets inwardly embodying an elastic medium adapted to continue the inward movement of the magnet when said bolt is a switch, a. spring press said smteh open when the magnet s in of March A. D. 1908. said recess, and means for ulling said magactuated bolt arranged to two subscribing Witnesses, on this 23rd day W. BROUGHTON.

net outwardly away from t e ear and a11oW CHAUNCEY 5 ino' said switch to close. Witnesses:

n testimony whereof I have signed my J. H. JOCHUM, Jr., name to this specicaton, in the presence of C, H` SEEM. 

